Feathers
by Tastychainsaws
Summary: Papi sets off to find a present for Master's birthday. Her birdbrain struggles to find a gift and struggles harder to find her way through the dark and cold. People are dark and the night is darker. Can she make it home?


**Feathers**

 **Some Nonsense by Tastychainsaws**

" _With marble eyes she lay there._

 _Her stare led her nowhere,_

 _A mere child he brought under his wings,_

 _wings of anything but pride._ "

- _Come, Waves_ by _The Fall of Every Season_

 **1**

The sensation of flying was something that couldn't quite be described. Even though it was cold and windy nothing was like soaring over the city. Papi's blue wings caught the air and let her just soar. She was outdoors without a host but what were they going to do? She knew how to flex her wings just the right way to rise or dive... to turn either way. She flew across the winds above the city and mingled with cold clouds. The cold was bitter but she was stir crazy. Papi knew birds flew south but also knew Okinawa was cold too. She know she couldn't leave. It wasn't like she could just fly to Philippines for various reasons. She couldn't put a jacket on either. Winter in Japan felt like having her wings clipped for the cold months. She was enjoying it while she could.

It was Master's birthday in three days. Papi had to find some sort of gift for him. It was hard though. Hard to focus on her mission and consider so many things. The other girls had already prepared so many good gifts. He was such a good cook so they bought him _Kasumi_ knives and new saute pans. They bought him a new bicycle and a new tablet with a good data plan. Papi's mind danced with the budget she had from her stipends from the Interspecies Exchange Program. The numbers were there but she couldn't quite focus on them. And what to buy? What would he want? Papi felt like she should have known but didn't.

From above she saw a blur she recognized. Maybe she thought it was a shopping center or maybe she was just cold. It was November after all. She shifted her wings and let herself drift towards the ground. What did Master want? What did Master want? How did Miia; Rachnera; Mero; Centorea and... well maybe not Suu. But the other seemed to just know what to get? Papi... her mind was firing blanks left and right. But there had to be _something_.

She let herself slowly drift downwards into a shopping center. There were a plethora of shoppers in the courtyard. They were dressed in coats and scattered as Papi landed. Her soft blue wings covered her in the cold. There seemed to be a good space between where she landed and where people were. Papi knew they were avoiding her. Why harpies though? Her legs were shivering and she didn't know just quite how she was going to fly back. She'd probably have to take a train. Papi couldn't fly when it was that cold. It was strange. There seemed to be some magnetic field that pushed people away from her. People were actively avoiding her. Did she forget to wear pants again? No she remembered and her butt was _still_ cold.

A couple with their child walked past and she tried to give a friendly smile and wave at the little boy. He tried to smile back before his parents pulled him along. The father muttered a little loudly, "Just keep walking. They'll revoke the bill soon enough."

Papi tilted her head and wondered what the meant. The sun was going down faster and she had to figure out something fast. Papi had rode the late night train once and hated it. The shaking made her dizzy and she never knew what stop to get off at.

Her orange eyes found the entrance to a clothing store. Her first urge was to buy a sweater but she remembered she couldn't wear sweaters. Still she moved towards the place and was aware of her talons clicking on concrete. People moved away and she struggled to understand why. Those thoughts were blasted away by warm air as she had chance to stretch her wings. Clothing? What did Master need? New jeans? No! Papi knew. Papi _knew_ what to get. She felt a thrill of excitement at just _knowing._

After dinner Master liked to watch American baseball on TV. Something about people standing around and occasionally trying to run in a circle just to be immediately stopped made him excited. To her the sport made absolutely no sense. The only sport she understood was football- kick the ball into the net. But it was tricky knowing _what_ net to kick it into. American football was about the most confusing thing that had ever been made. It was like normal football but you could carry it but not kick it and you got seven points instead of one and but sometimes you were allowed to kick it for less points which made no sense since you could just carry it to the goal and get seven points and to get seven points instead of six you had to kick it which just took up time but sometimes you could get eight points if you just carried it over there and Marshawn Lynch should have just carried the ball instead of giving it to the other team. Why did he do that? Didn't he want to win? American football players must have been really nice. Papi took a deep breath and tried to focus. This was making her head hurt.

Baseball, yeah. Master liked it and cheered for a team called the _Royals_ because they won the World Series recently. There was an assortment of blue t-shirts all advertising that they had won against the New York _Mets_. Papi thought American baseball teams must have been something since two of their teams competed for this title and managed to beat the whole rest of the world if it was the World Series. Apparently they had tied the game at the ninth _winning_ in their fifth game. Papi thought that was a lot of _winnings_ and wasn't sure who was winning but apparently the Royals won. It made no sense to her but Master liked it so she found a shirt his size. She thought it would look good on him.

She awkwardly carried it in her dew claw at the middle of her wing. The best she could rationalize the little talon was like a human having a little pointed thumb on their elbow and no hands. Humans couldn't fly either so it was a fair trade-off.

"3,500 yen," a very bored woman at the cash register told her. She was wearing black eye-liner with long dark hair and a nametag that said _Himizawa Eiyoko_. "Do you need a bag?"

"Papi would like a bag," she replied with a smile as she set the shirt down on the counter. Then had to awkwardly fish her wallet out of her back pocket. Her claw grasped at it but couldn't get a grip. It resulted in her going in circles trying to pry it out.

"Shouldn't you have a host family or handler with you?" The cashier frowned.

"No, Papi can fly," the harpy reasoned. She pried her wallet out and it fell straight on the ground. She awkwardly used her wings to get it on the counter.

"Papi can fly," Eiyoko sighed heavily. "Okay, 3,500."

"It's there!" Papi took the shirt in the bag and went to leave. "Send it back to the undress okay?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She replied as Papi skipped away. Papi knew that to make human transactions- you gave them your wallet and they mailed it back or your host family came and got it. There was a Papi step in happy's gait as she felt like she accomplished something. It was a little gift compared the the stuff the rest had put together but somehow meant something. Everyone else found baseball boring but Papi liked watching it with Master. Miia didn't like it since the focus was away from her but Papi enjoyed it because it was how they spent some time together. Even if Master sort of got flustered having to explain _winnings_ , _funs_ , and _falls_ every game as players ran the _races_ every game. It wasn't like there were that many games in baseball right?

Outside it had become somehow colder and Papi missed soaring around in the warm summer. Her hollow bones barely kept any warmth and her night vision was bad. Signs stood out from the darkness and she realized she had left too late. Her and Suu had been playing _Rock Band_ together when she heard about Master's birthday and just flown off without thinking. His birthday and partly _Don't Fear the Reaper_ on expert level drums were kicking her finely toned butt. It was cold and dark and she wasn't really sure which way to go.

Flying with a bag in tow was very hard despite the dark and cold. She couldn't take a train since she already used her wallet back at the store. How did regular people go to different stores all the time? Did they have different wallets? Papi didn't know but she wanted to be home to wrap her present. She looked around and just saw a blur of darkness with useless signs. Did she come from the east? Did it matter? She had flown for some time and it would take and hour to trek the distance on foot.

She had no money or phone to call for help. But she knew what to do! Just start walking and find someone and call the police. Papa was the chief and could help her! That put a smile on her face. She hadn't seen her papa in a long time. Papi was sure he'd love to hear from her.

So she put one talon in front of the other as she walked out of the shopping center with her wings around her. Her night vision was awful and she was barely able to follow the way to a sidewalk to avoid walking into the street. She followed the streetlights as best she could and was disheartened as the street was empty. People had parked at the shopping center, not walked. This was some residential area devoid of pedestrians.

She went a couple blocks not knowing what to do and some woman shoulder-checked her. It was some woman with a black leather jacket and light brown hair with a yellow hair-band. Papi fluttered her wings and exclaimed, "I need help!"

"I'm seeing things," the woman muttered to herself and walked away quickly.

Papi frowned and kept going. She passed a strip mall that held various stores whose names she couldn't read in the dark. There was a bar and some shadier other places. Next to it was a cinema with titles even Papi knew were years old. The only recent one was _Bringing the Dawn 2_. Papi already knew Aurora died at the end of that. She walked towards the bar even if she couldn't have a drink. Papi didn't need a drink she needed a phone.

The harpy got the door open and the bar was somehow darker inside. To her left was a long bar decorated behind it with countless posters of naked women and a lone female bartender wiping the counter. There was a large lounge area with couches and tables that were vacant. The woman tiredly said, "Welcome to Cheyenne 21, our specials are wells and PBR right now. Need your ID before I serve you drinks."

"Papi needs a phone," the harpy exclaimed. The woman's eyes went wide at the sight of her and she gestured, "Towards the bathroom there's a green phone."

Papi frowned, "Papi has no money."  
The woman walked towards her from behind the bar. "Sure, you can use mine real quick. Who do you need the call?"

"Police."

"Of course," she seemed to roll her eyes. "Please make it quick."

She dialed a few number and let Papi awkwardly hold the phone to her ear. A voice answered, "This is the police bureau, what's your emergency?"

"Papi needs to talk to papa! The police chief!" Papi sort explained.

The woman on the other end was silent for a moment, "Please hold."

"They told me to hold the phone," she told the bar tender and just held the phone. The two waited and after a few minutes a male voice sounded. Papi put the phone to her ear again.

"Hello? Hello?" A male voice said.

"Papa?"

"Who is this?" There was a pause and Papi heard his muffled voice say to someone else. "Keep him stable 'till EMS arrives."

"It's Papi!" She answered in an excited voice. "Papi's lost and needs Papa's help!"

There was a frustrated growl over the phone and he barked, "Then call your host family; your mother or the Interspecies Exchange! I'm busy right now!"

He hung up and Papi awkwardly passed the phone and told the bartender, "Papa said to call my host family."

"What's the number?"

"Papi doesn't know," she admitted. "Papa just said to call it."

"I can't help you," the bartender replied. "And you can't really hang around if you're not buying drinks."

Papi barely knew what had even happened. She heard Papa's voice and all of a sudden she was walking across cold pavement in an empty parking lot. Papi didn't know which way to go and had no idea what to do. She just had to get the present home in three days. Her wings covered her and gave some warmth but she felt alone and scared. People here seemed so distant and uncaring. All she could do was walk and turn right where she saw lights ahead.

She just wanted to be in bed or just in a warm home as her stomach rumbled. How did humans do this? Then something hit her. She realized what it was. It was her wings. Flying was the best thing ever but now that it was stripped from her she was entirely useless. Not just humans but anyone with hands could do what she could not. Those bulky blue wings; while beautiful, were entirely a liability. Or were they? She made a running start and dropped the bag. She grabbed it with a talon and took flight.

It took some effort and the cold November air was brutal. Still she managed to rise upwards and ride the bitter winds to get a better view. All there was was a blurry darkness mingled with occasional lights. She tried to turn and investigate her surroundings but it all looked the same. Papi was well and truly lost with no way home. The winds blasting against her set her path wrong. It was all a blur beneath and she was even more lost as the chill mingled with her blue wings. Keeping in the air was a struggle since her bones couldn't absorb any warmth. Still, she held on to the bag.

The strength was leaving her fast. All her energy was being absorbed by the night and she had to land before she _fell_. Her orange eyes found a dark spot between the lights. It was some sort of clearing. Beyond that spot was nothing but darkness... probably the edge of the town or something. She let the winds carry her downwards to a good sp-

The harpy collided straight into a tree. The branches scraped and tore at her as she clumsily fell to the ground. The bag was lost and she was panting for breath on her back. The skin on her arms was scratched as well as her face. It burned terribly but her only thought was the bag. Papi rolled over and crawled against the cold and hard ground. How to make it back from there was just a secondary objective. Flying like this was a stupid idea? What was Papi thinking

Her wing's claw snagged the plastic and she sat up and held it close. There was a nearby laughter from a girl.

"Holy shit! She did fall from the sky!" The girl laughed in a mean way. She appeared as a dark shadow against a black background Papi couldn't see past. "Hey you!"

"H-Hi..." Papi was shaking from the shock and anxiety of crashing. She barely felt her bleeding cuts.

"What is she?" Some boy asked. He was probably Papi's age and was carrying some bottle of liquor. "Some sort of carrier pigeon?"

"Probably," the girl said back. "I ain't shitting you. She's got wings."

"Harpy is a Papi happy," Papi said quickly and realized that was wrong. "No, Scared is a harpy Papi. Papi... Papi is a harpy scared..."

"Dude," the girl said to her friend. She was a Japanese girl in black jeans and a graphic shirt with the logo for the band _Born of Osiris_. The boy had longer hair and was in his school uniform. She said to him, "She's totally baked."

Another male voice came in the form of a shadow, "Who had the vodka?"

Papi sat up and whimpered at them, "Papi needs help. Papi's lost."

"Papi?" The girl stepped up towards her and looked down. "So you're part of the interspecies exchange bill?"

"She should be with her host family," the long-haired boy took a swing of vodka and passed it to the girl. She drank and handed it to a short-haired who had asked about the vodka in the first place. He had some trendy haircut that had his bangs covering one eye. The boy wore a leather jacket and black jeans like the girl.

He asked, "What's in her bag?"

Papi held the bag tight, "No it's for master! It's his present!"

"It's for her host I guess," the long-haired boy commented to his two friends. "If she's lost then..."

"It's a shirt," the girl said. "Blue."

"Does it fit me?" The other boy asked. "Go on and check!"

"No!" Papi backed away on the ground and protected the bag with her wings. "Leave Papi alone! Leave Papi alone!"

"Just let us check," the girl slowly walked after her. "You said you were lost right? We can help you if you just be like Fonzie. And what's Fonzie like?"

"C-Cool?" Papi only knew the answer because she had seen _Pulp Fiction_ with Rachnera like thirty times.

Suddenly she felt the long-haired boy grab a wing and try to pull it away. "Got her! Grab it!"

The girl went for it and Papi kicked hard. Her talons raked across the thief's face and drew a considerable amount of blood. The girl fell back and screamed. Papi smacked the other with her wing and turned to run the other way. There was screaming behind her and cursing. Papi did bad. She had hurt a human and _left_ her present behind. Her talons were beating against the ground as she ran and ignored various things thrown at her. A rock hit the small of her back and pine cone bounced off her wing. Still she took the leap to get her off the ground. These were mean people- she had to get away.

Papi leaped and let the chilling winds blow through her and her hollow bones and wings. The air felt heavy in her exhaustion and she flapped hard to keep in the air. Was it a blessing? She had rode the wind high and now only saw blackness and gained some sort of distance between her and the thugs. Papi tried to let the winds carry her but she was descending fast. Opening her wings made her ache terribly and she felt herself continue to fall. Where as she now? She couldn't have flown far but even bats could have seen better.

She tried to hover in midair and a powerful gust sent her somersaulting. There was pain as she collided into the strength of a great tree. Her back scraped against bark as she fell and landed on a solid branch. Papi slid off it and made a horrible plummet through the tree's foliage to the ground. There was a soft crunch as she landed on her right wing. The pain was unbearable. She cried out with a voice no soul heard. Her talons kicked up the cold dirt as she writhed in pain at her broken wing.

Papi could no longer fly. The wings were clipped and she was alone in the sheer heart of darkness. Tears ran down her face as her mind fought through the pain to rationalize either a reason or solution for this. Papi knew she had trouble understanding things like humans or other species did but... this was some sort of fresh new Hell.

Why had those people tried to steal Master's present from Papi? _Tried_? They had succeeded and Papi was bleeding and broken in total darkness. Her entire body hurt so much and she had no idea what to do. Just sitting up would be a struggle. So instead she rested on her back and simply sobbed. It hurt so much and nobody was there to make it better. When things were wrong somebody had always been there for her. Mama had been there to cover little Papi in her wings when she was afraid of the dark or hurt her wings. There was no Mama. There was no Papa or Master. She was alone and it bore into her heart like a deboning knife into chicken.

But there was a small spark inside her. A little flicker of fire amidst hollow bones and beautiful blue feathers. It was a feeling within the body and the mind. She cried out in pain as she struggled to sit up in total darkness. People did a lot of things for Papi. Papi made their lives harder and she knew it. It was a dark realization that had hidden in the shadows of her soul until the light of the current situation illuminated it. Just giving up was a betrayal for their efforts. Those people cared and therefor Papi should care for herself. She'd come back and be the best Papi who ever Papi'd. Sure they could call her a birdbrain; a clutz; a ditz; airhead or whatever. At least Papi knew she had fought hard to return. For the first time in some while there was a clarity to her thoughts. She knew if she just made it back to town she could find someone with a phone to take her to the hospital.

Sitting up was the first challenge and now she had to stand. She used her good wing to push off from and lifted her legs. Everything went wrong as the pain in her broken wing threw her off balance and she staggered straight into a tree and landed on her right wing. Papi cried loudly in pain and just wanted this to end. But she didn't learn to fly on her first attempt. She _had_ to try harder. Her good left wing was used to pull herself up the tree and she got to her feet. That wing covered her for some mediocre attempt at warmth while the other hung loosely just above the forest floor.

Papi wasn't as stupid as everyone thought. Her brain had a keen sense of navigation. She knew which way was south because magnets or somethings. Foxes had the same sense of feeling. South was just to her right and south was the way to go. Papi knew that. The first step nearly had her falling but the confidence in her heart made the other work even harder if she was heading into total darkness. There'd be lights soon.

She was heading south again. _Again_. She had been heading south in the first place.

 **2**

"It isn't like Papi to miss dinner," Miia commented as she stirred melted butter into egg yolks over a pan on the stove. The cookbook she had said to heat the butter at 212 but at 212 it was absolutely boiling and cooking the eggyolks. Was this really a good recipe for hollandaise? Plus did TSP mean teaspoon or tablespoon? It didn't matter. She used her long snakey tail to go over to the saute pan of onions she was trying to caramelize. None of the brown sugar was cooking to the onions and was floating in clumps around the butter. She went to turn the onions but actually didn't know how and was just bouncing them in place as one side kept overcooking. The recipe said to add water so she did and the pan caught fire. "I meant to do that!"

Rachnera winced at the fire but agreed, "No, this isn't like her. Where did she go?"

Kurusu aka 'Master'; aka 'Honey'; aka 'Darling' looked worried and scratched his head, "Why did she leave in the first place?"

Miaa lowered her head and blew the fire out before turning off the heat on that burner with the onions. She was sure the black color was natural. She knew the reason Papi was gone but it was also a secret. At the same time Papi had just left so quickly it was hard to say where she went. Was it worth spoiling the surprise? She reached down and opened the oven and temped the duck she was cooking. It was at 145 but she knew it would keep cooking to the 165 she needed it at.

"It's cold out there, but she would we look for her?" Cerea suggested as she worried both about her friend and the food coming to the table. "Or call Mrs. Smith?"

"She went to find a present," Suu casually said as she stood beside Kurusu with that simple smile on her face. "We were playing video games and she left."

"Uh, when was this?" He asked.

Suu pondered. "Five hours ago."

"That's a lot of ground to cover in five hours," Rachnera sighed. "She could have flown miles and probably can't see her way back."

Miia started arranging dishes to deliver her meal but wondered in a sad voice, "Mrs. Smith said she's run away from host families before. Did she do that to us?"

"I don't think so," Kurusu frowned and looked at his phone. "I'll give her an hour then I'll call Mrs. Smith. She's distinctive so someone should have seen her."

"I know!" Came the excited voice of Mero as she wheeled her way into the conversation after doing mermaid things. "Papi flew off for a present for our darling. But alas!" She waved a webbed hand for drama as a smile was on her face. "The cold winds rob our Papi from her path and she is lost! Perhaps lost in the wrong place? She's accosted by thugs or bandits and we hear her heart break as she loses the present to escape. But to where? By the time Papi realizes where she is it's too late. It's a sad story as she tries to return home but is inevitably doomed."

"Shut up!" Miaa shot at her. "Your stupid addiction to tragedy is not helping anyone!"

"It's not a possibility?" Mero tilted her head and smiled. There was a strange and hopeful look in her eyes.

 **3**

When the sun rose that next morning it seemed to actively resent the idea of giving warmth. People in coats shuffled around and complained about the cold as they went to work or walked their dogs. School girls and boys huddled in circles with their scarves to bitch about certain teachers or classmates. People poured hot water over their car windows to defrost them before their awful commute over the roads to work. There was a low fog that may have well be the collective effort of every breath in Japan that morning.

It was a sort of coldness that didn't seem to go away. It was wet and awful and chilled straight to the bone like fabric and wool simply didn't exist. The sky was a pale gray that thankfully didn't think of rain but dark clouds were there on the horizon. Radios and TVs warned of snow ahead. Something light but something more to add to the cold. It was doubtful schools would be canceled and students would just have to suffer.

That morning a jogger took a run through his usual route. He liked it because it was utterly devoid of people. He was dressed for the cold and moving his body kept him warm. There was no real trail to follow but he knew the woods well. They were full of thorns and weird stories of disappearances but he'd be been down that way nearly every day for four years. Today was the only time he saw something a little strange. Just a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye. Did someone leave a fancy coat out there? A bush obscured the rest of his sight and he just assumed it was just more human garbage.

And hour later Papi slowly awoke. She had no idea what time it was or when she had fallen asleep. If the pain had been bad last night, well... there was no comparing it. Her crippled wing felt like it had been run over and every last muscle hurt. There was no energy left. Her stomach was so hungry it she felt it eating itself. That and the pain and confusion made her dizzy as she stared at a cold gray sky. Where was she? Still in the woods? Had she flown that far?

The trees were a sad mix of dead grays and browns with the only leaves remaining being those who stubbornly refused to die. The bed of leaves beneath her was frosted over which left a burning sensation all over her body from the cold. Papi lifted her good wing with some effort and found no purchase to find something to grasp on to. She had simply collapsed in the night. Above her she saw the fog of her breath and finally the thought surfaced.

 _I could die here._

Papi didn't want to die. No! Papi didn't want to die! She wanted little chicks of her own who she could teach to fly and play! She wanted to eat more food and play video games with Suu. Papi wanted to fly again and... Papi wanted to be Papi again. This was not Papi. This was a broken harpy.

It took some pain and effort but she used that wing to roll over to her knees. The broken wing shrugged against the ground and it hurt so bad. She fought through it and got to her feet. It hurt so bad all over but she did it. Above the sky just taunted her. It reminded her she was crippled on the cold earth. The instinct was there to just leap and let the winds take her. Something had saw fit to steal that from her.

 _South_ her brain said. It made sense. Step by step she slogged that way as the wind pounded her. Papi didn't know cold like this existed. The trek wasn't forgiving either. Vines and branches tugged at her and tried to catch her bad wing. What else could she do though? Give up and die? This was the way and she knew it. Maybe in the future she'd learn not to fly so fast. There would be time to fix mistakes and she was excited to do so.

In her head she remembered Miaa's reluctance when she first joined the house. Her jealousy seemed silly now since Papi just saw Master as a big brother. Papi was able to just breathe the air and hear his voice. A voice in the wind telling her she was strong and encouraging her. As her mind was free to think it delved into places as cold as the wind. They all looked down on her. Except Suu, but they all thought she was just the dumb harpy who couldn't do anything right... couldn't talk right. She was going to prove them wrong! She was going to-

While lost in thought she hadn't noticed the water in front of her. Her talon went straight into ice cold water and then soon her whole body. It was only a meter deep but frigid. She tried to gasp in surprise and just took in water. She panicked and tried to flap her wings. That was awarded with _awful_ pain that just made her inhale more water. The surface was blurry and she had no way to reach it. Instead she kicked with her talons. They slid on rocks at first but pushed her across slowly. She pushed and pushed and pushed until her head broke the surface on the shore.

Papi tried to breathe but there was no air. In a frenzy she kicked herself onto the shore and held herself up with the good wing. The harpy vomited water then fell straight on her belly. She coughed and vomited all over her face as her entire body shook. This was a new level of cold. Everything was numb. Her feathers were heavy and wet and the hurt just wouldn't leave. Little flakes of white dropped on her shoulders as it began to snow.

 **4**

"That's okay, try again," a familiar voice said to Papi in a dream. Well it felt like a dream. It was hard to focus on both the dream and reality with how exhausted she was. Papi quickly ran up that green and sunny hill and felt a warm blue wing on her back. It was Mama's voice, "You can do it!"

Papi nodded and wanted to make Mama and her sister proud. She took a running jump and frantically flapped her wings. The urge to keep flapping them was there but there was no need. Papi was flying. Her small body was soaring the winds as her family cheered. The feeling was exhilarating and she felt more comfortable in the air than on the ground. Nothing could stop her up there. It was all harpy instincts. She bent one wing to turn and rode the sky to her left on her back. There was no fear of falling. There was only the sky.

Touching back down would have been disappointing if it weren't for her mother praising her and sister cheering. Papi was great at flying even for a harpy. It was so natural so...

Papi collapsed in the snow and grasped a branch to stop from falling to the ground. She was out of breath and had been daydreaming. All around her was white from snow and the trees that stuck out like black arms or claws from the grave. She caught her breath and swore she heard some voice. Some voice say, "Papi, we miss you?"

 _Master_? She thought and managed to keep taking those steps through the snow. Slowly she stepped down the path she had designated as she held herself. The snow fell on her in late autumn as she came to a clearing and saw nothing but sprouts of yellow from the snow. The grass was there but no sign of the voice. The only thing Papi could do was hold herself and press on. Step after step through the snow against the flurry. The winterly wind embraced Papi's throat and tried its best to strangle her. She pressed on because...

Even if she made mistakes... even if she couldn't read words or caused people trouble. She had to at least say goodbye. She _heard_ his voice and had to at least say goodbye. The wind and snow came harder and all Papi saw were shadows around her blotted out by white all over the place. It was a sea of snow and pain. She couldn't give up. She couldn't give up. It'd be so easy to just lie down and give up but she couldn't.

Eventually she saw black shadows ahead. _Trees_ , she was almost there. The final push in her mind. The effort nearly drained her beyond the point of standing but she stood gasping against a tree. Then his voice was there, "Papi!"

"Papi can make it!" She said to herself in a hoarse whisper. "Papi can make it."

There was some sort of trail there and she did her best to follow it. It went uphill and the snow was beating on her so much. The trail wasn't far before she reached a clearing of an area with tree stumps. Hooked against one was that button-up shirt Master always wore. It was snagged on a branch. She staggered to it and yanked it away and held to her with her good wing. He was close.

He wasn't close, he was _there_. Master was sitting on a stump and smiling at her. He said in his usual friendly voice, "Papi, you have to be cold."

"Papi's very cold!" She cried and stumbled at him. She fell on her knees and sobbed. "Papi's sorry! Papi didn't mean to get lost!"

"It's okay," he put a hand on Papi's shoulder. "You're tired right?"

She nodded, "Mhm."

"Just rest. I'll take you home."

"Okay," Papi rested against the snow. "Thank you."

His imagined touch was her relief. She was ready to sleep as she imagined his arm around him. No more tears. No more pain. The cold winds and snow blew as she slept calmly. They blew and took the last breath from her. The harpy was buried in snow. A beautiful grave nobody would see.

 **The End**

 _ **Author's Nonsense**_ **-** _Dunno what to say about this story. It's an idea that's been in my head for a long time and Papi fit the part. A lot of silly nonsense at the beginning but was just trying to get the reader in Papi's head. The ending idea had been in my head for a long time and originally this story was going to be like 20k words. I had no way to stretch it out and just condensed it._

 _On side notes Cheyenne 21_ _is a real bar in Omaha, Nebraska. Me and a friend went there before a concert during a road trip._

 _More back story is that this story was originally a lot longer. I just cut it and cut it to get to central point. The whole thing is based around the song_ Her Withering Petals _by_ Fall of Every Season _._

 _It kinda sucks but I had fun writing it_


End file.
